This is hopefully going to be my final save for FM17. I liked the idea of managing in South America due to the amount of players that come out of there. Starting in the lower leagues in one of the countries will mean that it will take some time to reach the hights of potential Champions League winning teams! I got the additional leagues from here.

The Manager
Our hero is going to be James Runevard, a young half English half Swedish man who set off for a big trip in South America. With no Coaching Badges and Playing Experience, we will have to look for a job in the lower league clubs!

The Setup
It surely will take some time to conquer South America. Ten nations, 21 leagues. Not easy but hopefully we can samba our way to the top!

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I couldn't help but notice the beautiful badge of this team. To be honest, that was the deciding factor for me, despite having a few more offers on the table! So, without further mumbling I present to you my first ever managerial job!

Titanes de Maracaibo F.C.

The club is currently sitting 5th in our group. Not too bad really but the expectation is for us to reach the Champions Playoff and for that we will have to fight with Lala F.C.

About the City:
A fairly nice city, with a population of around 3 million people. Sitting in the north of Venezuela this really looks like a lovely place, especially the beautiful sea that comes with the city! Maracaibo isn't too far away from the Colombian border, and there is also a bridge close to the stadium that acts as a short cut to another "half island" near by!

About the Club:
The club is just one year old so hopefully I can grow with the club! This will be interesting, as we have no history. Would love to win my first trophy here!
These are the only players available to us currently so I will have to go out and get more. Even if they won't be the best, it is a must to fill up the club just to have a healthy squad. I hope the scouts here will help us find some useful players!

Lets get this started!

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Well, with the first month gone, we are already heading into a two month break! We weren't able to bring anyone in yet because the window was close, but that could be for the best because it will give us time to assemble the right team for after the break.

I am really happy with the first two games, as we didn't let Lala F.C get away from us. In the last game we really should have won but at least we managed to get one point closer to Lala F.C as they lost.

So, before the break, we are currently still in 5th but just 1 point away of 4th. Hopefully with the right signings we will be able to push further up the table and secure the Champions Playoff spot we are aming for!

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We played three friendlies to try and get our match sharpness up towards the end of the break. We also started our journey in the Copa Venezuela against Angostura F.C.

Well, as you can see, a very tough month and a half for us! The friendlies were against stronger teams but we couldn't get back to our form before the break. We did manage a surprise win against Atletico El Vigia which was the highlight, but straight after we lost to the worst team in our group.
In the cup we had a tough games and we didn't have the new players yet which is my excuse for doing so bad in the first game!

Not only have we dropped to 6th, the gap increased to 5 points! Not promising but I am keeping hopeful for now.

We made alot of transfers and that had to be done. A lot were loaned in because I didn't want to spend the little amount of money the club has. Hopefully next season the better players will remain!

This is what the team looks like for the rest of the season! Much much better than what we started with!

He really could be better. His physical stats are atrocious but hopefully he could do well for us in the second division. Not expecting anything huge but with us needing at least one U20s player on the field, he could be useful.

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Only four games were played this month but damn, what games they were!!! 9-0 and then 10-0! After our collapse in the regular season, I really thought we would struggle but right now we are cruising to survival!

Six games to go and we are already 6 points above 4th. Hopefully we can secure our survival soon!

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First thing in my mail this month was a contract offer from the board. They wanted me to stay here for another season. I like the way we are fairing in recent games and I really believe that I can guide this team forward. I accepted the contract and got myself a nice £25 upgrade.

Despite two losses at the start of the month, we picked our form back and won big in the final two games of the month!
Our future star Johan Cubillán has been huge for us since I brought him to the team, 8 goals and 3 assists in 6 games!

Two games to go and we are safe. Hopefully we can cruise in the final two games and get ourselves ready for next season!

Not the end I wanted but who cares? We are safe and that is the important thing!

We must look forward now! Making the team stronger is our number one priority.

Stibenson Herrara was a master signing. He did so well! Him and Johan the boy can really lead the line next season I believe. Just need a Venezuelan backup for them because Lagos is Argentinian and I would like to free up the foreigner spot for another position.

There are a few players that I will be looking to keep, with Hererra, Silva and Rivas being the most important in my opinion! I don't want to rely on a lot of loaned players as I believe consistency is key, especially in leagues like this where the level of players is fairly low anyways! A feeder club would probably be our be shot at getting good loan players without waisting a penny.

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Didn't expect much from these friendlies as the teams we played were better than us.

4 players were released and I was happy to let them go as they had nothing to give us. Struve wanted to leave basically from the day I arrived so anything we got for him was good. Gonzalez was appointed club captain by me but the board decided to let him go. He was our starting LB and with Struve one of two backup LBs, we are now a bit short in that position.

I know I said that I wasn't going to rely on loans but I couldn't find many free agents that were good enough and wanted to join us. We did bring back Herrera, Rivas and Silva (not shown here because I extended his loan before he left). Hopefully the loaned players can make an impact but they aren't really costly so at most, they will be sent back to their clubs.

This is our team until the next window. I am very happy with it and I can really see us doing better than last season!

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Definitely not the start I was hoping for! Only 2 wins in 6 games. We really need to start getting goals and as it seems we are starting to find a rythm (5 in the final two games).

So, we are sitting in 6th currently. Not at all where I thought we would be. Still, only one point seperates us and 4th so I believe we will still be battling for that spot come the end of the regular season!

It took a month and a bit for me to find a new club. I had around 8 interviews but one team came back to me. When they offered me the contract I decided that I want in straight away! I left my hotel in Venezuela and went off on a new adventure!

Club Destroyers

The season won't be starting soon. We have almost four months to prepare ourselves! Hopefully we can do better than the team did last season which was the Relegation Playoff. Top 3 is a must for me!

About the City:
A long journey down south for us! Shortest driving route would have taken me 5448 km (81 hours) but luckily I had money for a flight thanks to our year with Titanes! It seems like a nice city, and you can even see the Andes Mountains
from my hotel room! The population is about half of what we had back in Venezuela at around 1.6 million people!

About the Club:
The club won the division we are currentlu in once. That was all the way back in the 2004/2005 season! Hopefully I can manage to do the same, and get the team back in the first division for the first time in 10 years!
This time around we come in with more players to our disposal. The only problem is that apart from Barja and Paz they are all youngsters!! Most have a bery good potential and I am hoping that I can help them reach it. I will have to get more players and I will look to bring more experienced players to build a spine for the team, and also players that might be useful for the long run!

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Not really fussed about the games really as they were just to get the match fitness up after a huge break!

I let the last two players go because they asked me to do so and I didn't want the morale to be low during the season. Kukocis probably our most improtant player. I just wanted to make the squad bigger, as well as bringing some experienced players.

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Well, it isn't hard to see that we have done amazingly well in the beginning of the season! Didn't see this coming really. That it would have been harder.

I wanted to finish in the top three and I am so happy that we managed to finish in the top spot! Didn't think we could do it after the first (and only) loss to Real America but the players have done so well!

This is our group for the Promotion Stage! Going by our results we shouldn't find it too hard finishing in one of the two spots that will take us to the Final Stage.